Musical offices

Incoming N.C. House Speaker Thom Tillis may not have all his boxes unpacked yet for opening day next week. That’s because new Minority Leader Joe Hackney is still in the speaker’s suite. But Hackney isn’t dragging his feet – the outgoing speaker just got his new office assignment yesterday.

Assigning offices is a biannual headache for chamber leaders. Who gets the big suites? Who gets a window? Who goes across the street to the Legislative Office Building?

The Senate had its room assignments settled some time ago, but they’ve only got 50 lawmakers to deal with. On the House side, it’s a much more complex puzzle with 120 moving parts.

Bill Holmes, who’s staying on with Hackney as his staffer, says they’re hoping to have most of the office packed up tomorrow. But it’s not quite clear where they’ll be moving it to. The new office, on the 6th floor of the LOB, is still being prepared, so they’ll have to find a temporary HQ till it’s ready.

In the meantime, Tillis’s transition team is still operating out of LOB 612, the conference room where House and Senate leaders meet to finalize the budget. Home field advantage, anyone?